Workshop Theme

The social and human aspects of Business Process Management (BPM) refer to considering people within the framework of BPM practices. This encompasses how individuals interact with each other within business processes, how they are affected by those processes, and how their behavior and social interactions influence the design, management, and improvement of business processes. Here are a few key points:

Human-Centric BPM:

At its core, BPM involves people. While processes can be automated, it's essential to design them with the users in mind, ensuring they are intuitive and efficient and improve the work experience. This might involve ergonomic considerations, user experience design, and the reduction of cognitive load. AI-based assistants like ChatGPT and Alexa offer intuitive conversational interfaces, simplifying human interaction with business processes. The declarative interface of these assistants allows users to state outcomes rather than processes, placing the complexity of business process execution on AI, not the user. AI-based assistants consolidate multiple services and information sources to fulfill diverse user requests efficiently. AI assistants personalize interactions and adapt to user preferences, enhancing satisfaction and commitment.

Social Interactions and Platforms

Processes often require collaboration and communication between different stakeholders. Understanding the dynamics of these social interactions can help design processes that facilitate better teamwork, information exchange, and decision-making. Platforms, particularly social platforms, play a pivotal role in enabling these interactions by fostering environments ripe for value creation. They catalyze weak ties, which connect participants flexibly and dynamically, facilitating the flow of information and innovation across the network. This can result in the organic, bottom-up definition of business processes instead of rigid, top-down approaches.

Social production, encouraged by these platforms, allows for collective content creation and problem-solving, harnessing the diverse strengths and insights of a wide user base. It empowers individuals to contribute to the process design, leading to more robust and widely accepted processes. Additionally, the egalitarian nature of social platforms democratizes decision-making. Decisions can emerge from the collective rather than being handed down from a central authority, leading to more equitable and effective process outcomes.

Incorporating these value-creating interactions opens new avenues for process design, bringing forth a more adaptable and innovative approach to BPM. It also signifies a shift in human involvement in BPM, moving towards more participatory, inclusive, and collaborative roles. This evolution reflects a broader trend in organizational design, where processes are becoming more human-centric and aligned with social business principles.

Organizational Culture 

The adoption of new processes or the transformation of existing ones often requires changes in the organizational culture. Addressing human aspects involves managing the change process, including training, support, and addressing resistance to change. Effective BPM requires strong leadership and engagement at all levels of the organization. Leaders must understand the social dynamics of their teams to foster a culture that supports continuous process improvement. Understanding what motivates employees and designing processes that align with these motivators can improve job satisfaction and performance. This includes considering incentives and reward systems. As processes evolve, so must the skills of the people who execute them. A focus on training, personal development, and knowledge management is crucial.

Ethical Considerations, Diversity, and Inclusion

BPM must be guided by ethical principles, ensuring that processes are fair and transparent and do not exploit or discriminate against any group of people. Processes should also be designed to be inclusive, considering the needs of a diverse workforce and customer base. Natural interaction with digital assistants makes business processes more accessible to all users, promoting inclusivity. 

Human-Centric BPM Design: Exploring ergonomic considerations, user experience, and cognitive load reduction in process automation.

AI in BPM: The role of AI-based assistants in simplifying interactions and personalizing user experience within BPM.

Social Interaction in BPM: Analyzing how social dynamics influence process design for improved teamwork and decision-making.

Platform-Facilitated Collaboration: The impact of social platforms on creating flexible, dynamic networks for BPM.

Social Production and Process Design: Investigating collective content creation and bottom-up process definition through participatory platforms.

Democratic Process Management: The effects of egalitarian decision-making in BPM facilitated by social platforms.

Organizational Culture and Change Management: Strategies for managing cultural transformation in the context of BPM.

Leadership and Engagement: The role of leadership in fostering a culture supportive of BPM and continuous improvement.

Employee Motivation in BPM: How incentives and rewards systems can align with BPM to improve job satisfaction and performance.

Skills Development in BPM: Addressing the evolving training and development needs within BPM practice.

Ethical BPM Practices: Ensuring fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination in BPM.

Diversity and Inclusion in BPM: Designing inclusive BPM practices that cater to diverse workforces and customer bases.